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The Lovely Eggs – I Am Moron: Album Review

Their previous This Is Eggland album was pretty good. I Am Moron finds The Lovely Eggs bringing us more lunacy from Lancaster.

Release Date: 3rd April 2020

Label: Egg Records

Formats: CD / DL / vinyl

I had my first encounter with The Lovely Eggs at the Head For The Hills Festival (Egg For The Hills/ Head For The Eggs?) in Ramsbottom a couple of years back. David Blackwell wasn’t too well and down at the front there was a danger of getting a good kicking from Holly Ross as she went through a series of callisthenic stage moves. A mental note was made.

Investigations pending, I guess if the guitar/drums duo works for South Coast Rock behemoths Royal Blood (and several others beyond, yes, The Hyena Kill…etc), why not for a quirky psych-punk husband and wife duo from Lancaster? In fact why not more so?

And listening to I Am Moron for the first time, it took a couple of songs – the more polished Long Stem Carnations (which surely owes a debt to Hawkwind) and You Can Go Now – before I had the familiar feeling of being kicked in the head again by the violent rage of This Decision. In fact, I almost felt of a mind to indulge in a ‘F*** It’ scarf from their online shop.

Despite being lulled in gently, plenty of anger and contempt is channelled into a set that results from the observations of a world going sadly more chaotic by the hour. A sense of if you didn’t laugh you’d cry…

…or dance around uninhibitedly to the tribal pulses on Who’s Got The Ball while echoing the demented chorus in all sorts of bizarre voices before joining Holly in letting loose.

Yes, the Eggs seem to subscribe to the punk ethic as Bear Pit and 24 Eyes are the aural equivalent of overdosing on sherbert lemon space dust, courtesy of some fizzing guitar.

What’s maybe more surprising is the Heavy Rock influence and direction. Bear Pit heads back to 1969 and the sounds of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath creating their astonishing new vibes. The off-kilter Insect Repellant is accompanied by another monster of a riff to grind down to. And a belly laugh lyric: “Boy George/Comfortable shoes/Luxury coleslaw/ All inclusive minibreaksInvestment opportunities…etc…Repellant.” If he were still with us, you could see old John Lennon giving this the thumbs up to the way it rants in the same style as his God song. Working-class freedom providing a common theme.

It gets better. “The vicar’s a snitch…the pigeons eat chickenfrom the streets that you sit in,” as barely a minute of The Digital Hair flies by in the blink of an eye. They must have had so much fun making this album. Stream of consciousness rules.

A bassline straight from Hooky’s knees brings a conclusion to this brilliant record as New Dawn offers a more considered lyric. In comparison to some of the earlier frivolity, the Eggs have dug deeper on one that owes its groove to the spirits of Cobain and Curtis. Definitely the track of the year so far.

The Lovely Eggs. They’ve got the balls. The balls to buy a couple of those one-way tickets for the Mars One project to set up a human settlement on the Red Planet. That’s the idea that provided a genuine parallel with heir vision of the band. And to be fair, not only would they fit right in, there would be no shortage of entertainment, Egg style.

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Published by Mike Ainscoe

Mike has been photographing and writing about bands going back many years. Editor on Louder Than War, he also contributes to the LTW magazine, Powerplay Rock & Metal mag, Fireworks and FATEA as well as freelancing for PROG, Record Collector, Sonic Bandwagon and local press in Bury and Congleton.
View all posts by Mike Ainscoe